Detail: I am planning to test Spiceworks 5.1 on a virtual machine. Given my choice, I would prefer to go with the full Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, which of course is a 64-bit O/S.

Yes, I realize that SpiceWorks will run on a desktop O/S, but I don't have the appropriate licensing to run Windows XP or Windows 7 virtual machines. I do have a Datacenter Edition license for Windows Server, however; therefore, I intend to run it on a Server operating system.

So, given that it will be installed on a Windows Server O/S, is it compatible with 64-bit Server 2008 R2? Or do I need to crank it back to a 32-bit Server 2008 (i.e., non-R2 version)?

Thanks! I will still go with 2008 R2, to grease the skids for when a 64-bit Spiceworks upgrade becomes available.

I doubt that that will ever happen - at least not for a very, very long time. There is no reason for it. Until SW is using more than 4GB of ram as a single process there isn't much call for running on 64bit but there are tons of reasons not to do so.

Nearly all software remains 32-bit. There are few apps that benefit from going 64bit on an app level and supporting two compilation environments is a pain.

Keep in mind that SpiceWorks is a Ruby app and Ruby apps are not 32bit or 64bit. They are just Ruby apps. It is the Ruby platform itself that would have to change bit level, not SpiceWorks.

I am currently running it on server 2008R2 64 bit. I have noticed that it runs slower than when it was on the server 2003 32bit server even with the newer hardware. Plan to install the 32 server 2008 for spiceworks.